With a wide range of indoor and outdoor attractions including the famous Paignton to Dartmouth Steam Train, a superb coastal location and an exciting programme of events, South Devon’s English Riviera is the perfect place for February Half Term. The whole area is a UNESCO-recognized Global Geopark.
Special Events:
Occombe Farm Kids Wild West Adventure Trail
17 – 19 February
Enjoy a family adventure trail with challenges to test the bravest cowboy and cowgirl out there. There’s also a fancy dress competition, hobby horse making and pony rides! Pick up a trail sheet from Occombe Farm Visitor Centre. Time: 10 am–3 pm, Cost: £3.50 per child, no booking required.
Preston Down Road, Paignton, Devon TQ3 !RN
01803 520022 countryside-trust.org.uk
Make Your Own Wild Art, Coleton Fishacre
18 February
Come and create a piece of wild art in the Coleton Fishacre gardens as the ’50 things to do before you’re 11 ¾’ fun continues this summer. Countryside rangers have beachcombed the South Devon coastline for bits and pieces to turn into wild art. If you’re an aspiring artist or a den builder, come and help turn their collection of materials into a work of art. Time: 2pm, cost £3 per child. Booking not needed. Normal admission charges apply.
Brownstone Road, Kingswear, TQ6 0EQ
01803 842382 nationaltrust.org.uk/coleton-fishacre
Let’s Go Mexican, Occombe Farm
20 February
Get your Mexican hat on and join us for a hands-on cookery day making Mexican favourites including salsa, bread tortillas, polvorones (Mexican sugar cookies), quesadillas and nachos. With all ingredients provided, you just need to bring along your appetite and some Tupperware to take your goodies home with you!
Time: 10am-4pm, cost: £30 per child, booking essential, children can be left without their parents.
Preston Down Road, Paignton, TQ3 !RN
01803 520022 countryside-trust.org.uk
Attractions Open on the English Riviera during Half Term include:
TORQUAY
Babbacombe Cliff Railway
10 Babbacombe Downs Rd, Torquay TQ1 3LF
Built in 1926, the Babbacombe Cliff Railway has shuttled hundreds of thousands of holiday makers to and from Oddicombe Beach in over 84 years of service.
Telephone 01803 328750
www.babbacombecliffrailway.co.uk
Babbacombe Model Village
Hampton Ave, Babbacombe, Torquay TQ1 3LA
The South West’s Great Big Miniature Park! Thousands of miniature buildings, people and vehicles, along with animated scenes and touches of English humour, capture the essence of England’s past, present and future.
Telephone 01803 315315
www.babbacombemodelvillage.co.uk
Bygones
St Marychurch Rd, Torquay TQ1 4PR
Find the unexpected at Bygones with three floors of pure nostalgia for all the family. Wander back in time, visit an authentic, life-size Victorian street including forge, sweet shop & apothecary.
Telephone 01803 326108
Cockington Court and Craft Centre
Cockington, Torquay TQ2 6XA
If you’re looking for a unique gift, a special work of art or amazing handmade jewellery then you must visit Cockington Court Craft Centre. Here you will find highly-skilled artists and artisans, all producing gorgeous objects, paintings and crafts that are unlike anything you’ll find anywhere else.
Telephone – 01803 607230
Kents Cavern
91 Ilsham Road, Torquay TQ1 2JF
Kents Cavern is one of Europe’s top prehistory Stone Age caves with an extensive labyrinth of spectacular and easily accessible caverns open daily all year.
Cave tours are at 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm and 3.30pm.
Telephone 01803 215136
Living Coasts
Torquay Harbourside, Beacon Hill, Torquay TQ1 2BG
Living Coasts, Torquay’s award-winning coastal zoo, is home to a magnificent array of marine life from around the world. Set in a state of the art naturalistic environment, you can journey from the South African coast to a mangrove forest and then on to a sunken wreck.
Telephone 01803 202470
Torquay’s Dinosaur World
3 Victoria Parade, Torquay, Devon TQ1 2BB
Torquay’s Dinosaur World is an exciting indoor exhibition that brings dinosaurs and their worlds to life! There are a host of scaled and full size models set in realistic scenes.
Telephone 01803 298779
www.torquaydinosaurworld.co.uk
Torquay Museum
529 Babbacombe Rd, Torquay TQ1 1HG
Travel back through 400 million years of time at Torquay Museum – a hands-on family-friendly visitor attraction, with lots to see and do for children and adults alike.
Telephone 01803 293975
Torre Abbey
The King’s Drive, Torquay TQ2 5JE
The Abbey is the best preserved example of a medieval monastery in Devon and Cornwall and has beautiful gardens including the Potent Plants Garden based on the works of the Queen of Crime Agatha Christie who was born in Torquay.
Telephone 01803 293593
Waves Leisure Pool
Chestnut Avenue, Torquay, Devon TQ2 5LZ
Waves Leisure Pool is located within the Riviera International Centre, situated just off the seafront in Torquay, and offers fitness and fun for all the family whatever the weather!
Telephone 01803 299992
www.rivieracentre.co.uk/leisure-pool
PAIGNTON
Dartmouth Steam Railway
Queens Park Station, Paignton TQ4 6AF
The Dartmouth Steam Railway from Paignton runs for seven miles along the spectacular Torbay coast to Churston and through the wooded slopes bordering the Dart estuary to Kingswear and on to Dartmouth by ferry. You can also take a boat upriver to visit Agatha Christie’s holiday home at Greenway.
Trains departing Paignton 10.30, 12.15, 14.15 and 16.15
Telephone 01803 555872
Paignton Zoo
Totnes Rd, Paignton, Devon TQ4 7EU
Paignton Zoo is one of Britain’s top zoos. It’s home to some of the planet’s rarest and most amazing creatures. Discover all your favourites, like gorillas and orang utans, giraffes, lions, tigers and rhinos, and be ready for a few surprises along the way, too
Telephone 01803 697500
BRIXHAM
Golden Hind
The Quay, Brixham TQ5 8AW
The Golden Hind at Brixham is a full sized replica of one of the most iconic ships from the age of exploration being a feature of this picturesque harbour since 1964 and has a long history of screen appearances in films, television dramas & documentaries. The ship gives a fascinating, hands on and exciting experience to life on board in the 16th century.
Telephone 01803 856223
The Smugglers and Pirates Experience
King St, Brixham TQ5 9TF
The Smuggler and Pirate Experience is family friendly visitor attraction situated on Brixham’s gorgeous harbourside.You’ll be taken on a journey through 18th Century Brixham where smuggling was a way of life and pirates ruled the high seas.
You can enjoy the fun Smugglers’ Retreat restaurant plus gift shop too.
Telephone 01803 855658
Agatha Christie’s Greenway (National Trust)
Greenway Road, Brixham TQ5 0ES
You can enjoy ‘The Agatha Christie Experience’ by steam train and riverboat. Agatha Christie described Greenway as “the loveliest place in the world”. It was here that she had her holiday home, on the banks of the River Dart. Greenway is a magical place to explore, with its rich historical interior and the wildness and mystery of its garden. Agatha Christie set three of her novels here, all of which feature on the Agatha Christie Literary Trail: Five Little Pigs, Dead Man’s Folly and Ordeal by Innocence. In Dead Man’s Folly it appears as Nasse House, and the boathouse was the scene of a murder.
Telephone: 01803 842382
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greenway/
For full details of all that is happening on the English Riviera over February half term, please visit www.englishriviera.co.uk/whats-on
